Retaining and locking device for removable box ends.



. G. HOESCH.

RETAINING AND LOCKING DEVICE FOR HEMOVABLE BOX ENDS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY?, 191e.

' 1,324,981. a patented De@.16,1919.

DLE.. l I L mi, I f MN,

N UNITED sTATEs APATENT oEErcE..

GEORGES EoEscH, 0E LONDON, ENGLAND, AssrGNoRoE ONE-HALE To CLEMENT TALBOT,

LIMITED, oF LoNDoN,1ENeLAND.

RETAINING AND LOCKING DEVICE FOR BEMVABIJE BOX Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

AppIication filed May 7, 1918. Serial No."233,118. 1

To all 'whom t may concern: Y

Be it known that I, GEORGES RoEscH, a

citizen of the Swiss Confederation, residing in London, England, haveinvented a certain new and Improved Retaining and Locking Device for Removable Box Ends, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved retaining and locking device for removable box-ends.

It has been proposed that a large fiat tube of wide shallow cross-section should be used crosswise on an. vautomobile under the two chassis longitudinals and should serve not only as a box but also as across-stay .to bind the two longitudinals together. Such a 'box could be used to serve as a tire receptacle and as a receptacle for the tool-drawer.

It is to a combined retaining and locking device for the removable door of a box, of

which the tube above referred to is a convenient example, that the present invention relates. v

Such an open-ended receptacle, e. g., the tube aforesaid, would present a thin margin toward the closing device which would be a door or plate, preferably grooved on its face, to receive or bear upon this marginal portion of the end of the box. Preferably the groove or the face of the door should have a suitable rubber or other soft packing in or upon it for the end of the box to bed upon.

According to the present invention the removable door has on its exterior a rotatable handle permanently secured to the'door and from the handle extends through the door into the box interior a screw-threaded extension on which a cross-bar is threaded. The cross-bar engages with lugs fixed inside the box and the manner of its operation and engagement and the method of locking the handle will be hereinafter explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, whereinyFigure 1 is a vertical cross section of a box-end B and of a door D in it, the construction being provided with a combined engaging and locking device according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is a section, on the line 2-2 Fig. l, looking from the interior of the box;

Fig. 2a is a perspective' view of the lower part of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly in section of the middle portion of the outside of the door. I

Like letters indicate like parts'throughout thedrawings.

From these drawings it will be seen that the removable door D has a circular recess 7' therein, and in the recess is a disk g which is rotatable in the recess butis so held therein by a ange f permanently securedto the door as not to be removable therefrom. The said disk is provided with bolt sockets s spaced apart around its cylindric circumference; these sockets may be: convenientlyprovided by milling with a circular millingtool, the curved recesses s shown in the cylindric circumference `of the disk. The disk is formed as or provided with a handle H accessible at the outside of the door, and on the other side of the door it is provided with a screw-threaded extension X which projects from the inner face vof the door, through ahole therein. On'this extension a cross-bar C is threaded like a nut.l A lock i K of any suitable type secured permanently in the body of the door is `provided with a small key 7and with a bolt b .controllable by said key and adapted to be protruded by the key into or withdrawn from any of the aforesaid bolt-sockets s in the disk g which may come into or may 'be in register with it.

Two lugs L which may be L-shaped are fixed or formed on the inside of the box at opposite sides to engage the opposite ends of the cross bar C when the door is in place. Each lug has two faces marked respectively 1 and 2 in the drawings; one face 1 is positioned to intercept the corresponding arm of the aforesaid cross-bar C when it is being rotated in company with and about the axisV of the extension X hereinbefore described, and the other face 2 of the lug is positioned to intercept the arm and prevent it from being moved out of the box by a movement at right angles to the plane of its rotation.

. Assuming that the door D is off and that it is desired to close the box-end B, the door is placed against the end of the box and the handle H is rotated. The first effect of this rotation of the handle H will be to rotate the cross-bar C in company with the extension X and bring the ends of the crossbar into bearing with the faces l of the two lugs L; upon this the cross-bar can rotate no farther and continuation of therotation of the handle will screw the extension into the cross-bar and draw the latter home against the second face 2 of each of the two lugs and by the reaction of this ope disk g with which it is engaged, and the disk g can then be rotated in the reverse direction to that in which it was turned to hld the door on. rhe first eiect of this reverse rotation will be to turn the screwed extension X above referred to in the cross-bar C and ease its engagement with the lugs L which prevent the cross-bar from being withdrawn, and a continuation or" this reverse rotation of the extension `X will cause the cross-bar C to rotate with it, and swing clear of both the lugs whereupon cross-bar, extension and door can be moved away in company.

The ends of the cross-bar can have their faces 2 slightly beveled as shown in Fig. 2 in full line, and the races of the lugs can be correspondingly beveled; or the ends of the cross-bar can be square and can go into a1 squared recess in the lugs, shown by chain lines l, 2, 3 in Fig. 2a. But whether the lugs be beveled or recessed there is a return or rabbet in the depth of the recess or of the bevel to insure that the bar before' it can be disengaged must move backwardly for a short distance (el Fig. 2a) into the box.

An important advantage of this construction is that when the cross-bar has been tightened by the screw it cannot disengage itself by vibration owing to its engagement in the recess or notch in the stops.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination of a boX, a removable door, a rotatable handle mounted on the outer Jrace of the door and provided with a notch in its periphery, a key-operated locking device secured on the door, a bolt in said locking device movable to engage said notch to lock said handle against rotation, a screw-threaded extension of said handle eX- tending through the door and from; the inner face thereof, a cross-bar threaded on said extension and rictionally engaging it to be rotatable therewith, an enlarged portion at the end of said screw-threaded portion7 lugs 0n the interior of the box so positioned as to engage said cross-bar when rotated and to prevent further rotation with said handle whereby the cross-bar is traversed along said screw-threaded portion by continued rotation of the handle and stops on the interior of the boX notched to receive the ends of the cross-bar and oppose said traversing movement whereby the door is pressed against and closes the boX, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

GEORGES ROESCH. 

